THE ASCENSION OF HUGH CAPET
LAURENT THEIS
Louis V, whom historians branded with the label ‘lazy’, was a young king of twenty years old who fell victim to a hunting accident on the lands of Hugh Capet. It was 987, and the young king was about to summon the Archbishop of Reims for treason.
Louis was the last of the Carolingians with his uncle Charles. The death of the young king was convenient for everyone. There was a rush to crown Hugh Capet king of the Franks. If we were to revisit the matter today in a trial, judges would condemn Hugh Capet for inheritance capture.
In reading this book, it is clear that the rights to the French crown were usurped. Laurent Theis brings to mind this tumultuous period of our history. In fact, there has always been rivalry between the king and the lords. It never extinguished, and in their schemes, the aristocrats would eventually destroy the monarchy and their privileges. This book also highlights the rivalry between the two banks of the Rhine.
The Germans and the Franks share the same roots, and it will take a thousand years to end the wars between these two cousin peoples. The ascension of Hugh Capet, the third family to take the Frankish throne, is both an affirmation of a rift between the Franks and Germans and, in a way, the birth of France.
This book by Laurent Theis is a guide to better understanding this medieval period where homage and fidelity adhered to relationships between lords and vassals. According to our modern criteria, there was no betrayal; only the interest of the moment counted. An oath could thus be broken according to situations. The Middle Ages is a society rooted in feudal foundations.
In fact, the State does not exist in the modern sense of the word. One is a vassal to a lord, who himself owes allegiance to someone more powerful than him. The Carolingians held power based on these principles and lost it by the same principles. King Louis V died in a hunting accident, unable to pursue his accusations. Archbishop of Reims Adalbero crowned Hugh Capet, and young Louis V was buried and quickly forgotten; the king is dead, long live the king.
Thus, the curtain fell on the Carolingians to rise on the Capetians.
Thierry Jan
